Fire Safety

---

Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives!

Knowledge is power for keeping your family safe from house fires.
Here's what you need to know: 

* Install a smoke alarm outside each sleeping area and on each level of your home.
   If people sleep with the doors closed, install smoke alarms inside sleeping areas.

* Test the operation of your smoke alarm each month by pressing the test button.

* Maintain your smoke alarm by vacuuming away dust and cobwebs.

* Change the battery in your smoke alarms annually.

* Replace smoke alarms that are more than ten years old.

* Create a Family Disaster Plan for fire:
     - Learn two ways to escape from every room of your home.

     - Choose a meeting place for your family outside your home if your smoke alarms alert you to a fire.

     - Teach your family to get out quickly, go to your family meeting spot, and then call the fire department 
        from a neighbor's house.

    - Practice your plan by having fire drills at least twice a year with your family to ensure that everyone 
      knows exactly what to do when the smoke alarm sounds. Hold a fire drill at night to make sure that 
      sleeping family members awaken at the sound of the alarm. Know what your child will do before a fire occurs.

    - Consider escape ladders for sleeping areas on the second and third floors. Learn how to use them and
      store them near the window.

* Start a Life Saving Habit. When you change your clock back to Standard Time, change the batteries in your smoke alarms.
   

- If you do not have a smoke alarm in your home or need assistance to change your batteries, please call the American Red Cross as 816-232-8439 or e-mail longk@usa.redcross.org

For more information on fire safety, please go to

http://www.sparky,org/
and
www.redcross.org/homefires